By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) - US Republican lawmakers denounced an International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor pledged a strong response in January.
Rep. Mike Waltz, the incoming national security advisor for Trump, dismissed the ICC’s actions as "antisemitic."
"The ICC has no credibility, and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government," Waltz wrote on X. “Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham vowed legislation targeting countries that cooperate with the ICC’s decision. "If we do not act forcefully against the ICC after their outrageous decision … we are making a huge mistake," Graham said, and warned that the US could be the next target of the court’s actions.
"Israel is not a member of the ICC nor is the United States. If we do not fight back, it is as if we are conceding that they have jurisdiction over the United States."
Graham said he would propose legislation to impose consequences on nations that “aid and abet” the ICC in enforcing the arrest warrants, describing such actions as reckless and undermining the rule of law.
Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the arrest warrants a "complete disgrace."
He said Israel is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC, adding: "The U.S. must move forward with sanctions against this corrupt organization."
Sen. Tim Scott from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accused the ICC of acting as an "anti-Israel propaganda machine" and aligning with adversaries of the US.
"The court’s illegitimate targeting of Israel for defending its people from terror should not be tolerated and should be met with immediate and severe sanctions," Scott said in a statement.
The Hague-based court announced arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on Thursday "for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
It also unanimously rejected Israel's challenges to jurisdiction under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute.
The court said it “found reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility" for "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."
The warrants come as Israel’s genocidal offensive in Gaza entered its second year, having already killed 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing and deliberate blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, pushing the population to the brink of starvation.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for senior Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commonly known as Deif, “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least October 7, 2023.” Israel claims Deif was killed in a July air raid in southern Gaza, but Hamas has yet to confirm it publicly.
Applications for arrest warrants for two other senior leaders of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, were withdrawn in August and October, respectively, following the confirmation of their deaths, the ICC said.